**Media Release**

**Telling beneficiaries to study is no use if classrooms are full**

If the government wants to follow the recommendations of the Welfare Working Group it first needs to provide opportunities for would-be-students to enter tertiary education. That is the view of TEU national president, Sandra Grey.

"There is no point telling young beneficiaries that they should be in study if there are no spaces available for those young people," Dr Grey.

"The government has currently capped the number of students that our polytechnics and tertiary institutions can teach. That means thousands of students are already missing out on places."

"If tertiary institutions are so full of students that they are turning them away, as many have been for the last two years, you can't then blame would-be-students for being on a benefit. They have done exactly what the government asked of them. It is the government's cuts to tertiary education funding and cap on the number of funded students that is at fault."

"The government has a duty to young students who want to study their way out this this recession. That means providing spaces, tutors and resources," says Dr Grey.

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